A Day in Bookland

  Here are my favourite reads of 2020! I include in this list all the books I gave 5 starts to this year. These are the books I felt in love with, that made me feel all the feels. I have list them in order of reading: The Unseen World by Liz Moore. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré. Which are your favourites this year?

Since I only include in my favourites those books I give 5 stars I decided to do an honourable mentions post with a bunch of incredible reads I read this year. I highly recommend all of them. Here is the list: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert. Beloved by Toni Morrison. The Deep by Rivers Solomon. Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong. Lovely War by Julie Berry. almendra by Won-Pyung Sohn. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud. Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola. Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes. Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall. Any reads that didn't make it into your favourites but deserves a mention?  Let me know!

  It's been a while, hasn't it? I have been reading but neglecting everything related to blogging. So I wanted to do an update for my current reads. My reading pile at the moment consists of 4 books although one of them I've been reading in and out since it's a collection of the original Grimm Brothers' Fairytales  and it's not one to read in one go. The other three are The Vanishing Half , The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue  and Anna Karénina . How are you all doing?

  Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson . This one was tough and upsetting to read. Made me extremely uncomfortable, angry and furious. Enchanted is an aspiring singer and in a singing competition she meets Korey Fields, and R&B superstar. He is immediately into her and promises her a career in the music industry. He is 28 and Chant, 17. He knows. After they meet, they start texting each other and a relationship that could be described as mentor-apprentice turns romantic. Things don't feel right though. We know he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, we know he is grooming her but Chant doesn't realise what he is doing; how could she? She believes he's her fairytale. But the fairytale soon enough becomes a nightmare. Tiffany D. Jackson doesn't shy away from showing the horror of what Chant goes through and she goes through a lot. And the worst of it all is that what she is exploring is not really fiction and it was just a difficult read overall. Trigger warnings for grooming, ...

  September is over and here are the 10 books I read this month (3 of them are ebooks so they aren't pictured here but I have listed them below): Summerwater by Sarah Moss ( 7/10 ). Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West ( 7.5/10 ). The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson ( 5.5/10 ). Writers & Lovers by Lily King ( 7/10 ). Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. ( 7.5/10 ). SLAY by Brittney Morris ( 8/10 ). The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune ( 9.5/10 ) -> a new favourite. Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola ( 8/10 ). The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty ( 5.5/10 ). The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang ( 8/10 ). Hope your reading month was as good as mine :) Follow

Writers & Lovers by Lily King . I ended up enjoying this novel although at the beginning I had issues with the writing style and wasn't particularly keen on the main character. However, page by page she got under my skin and I learnt to care for her. She is not only dealing with grief but also trying to find her place in the world alongside navigating life, making mistakes and being unable to understand fully your own self. It's not a book for everybody but I am glad I read it. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr . This is the first in the Penguin Modern boxset - I am attempting to make my way through all 50 titles - and contains as well the sermon 'The Three Dimensions of Complete Life'. I will say I enjoyed the first one more than the second one mainly because is more religious-focused which is not something I connect with. However, the issues he raised in both essays are very important and I do recommend reading this one. SLAY by Brittney Morr...

Summerwater by Sarah Moss . Okay, so here is what I liked: one, the interior monologue; it was so interesting to read what each character was thinking and how we are all morally compromised one way or another. We follow quite a few characters and each and every one of them had a distinctive voice. This is probably the most impressive element of the story in my opinion as there is so much to unpack throughout and two, the dark atmosphere accomplished. Now onto my main problem: the rushed ending; what was the point of it all? Not just the rushing per se but what the actual ending was. It was such a big contrast to how the story was being built and how atmospheric everything was to then boom, done... and I don't know, it felt flat for me and not at all impactful. I am pretty sure Moss intended the ending to be as it is but whereas it might work for some readers, it didn't for me. As a whole it reads more like a connected short story collection than a novel. The Year of the Witchi...